


Time

by GealachGirl



Series: The Trouble With Soulmates [3]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Gene-centric, I also took liberties with the medical aspect but it's mostly accurate, I hate all of these assholes and the way they talk, M/M, Soulmate AU, and now I know a lot about collapsed lungs, and so many accents, by accident, first words your soulmate says, so many minor characters, still zero angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 16:51:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6965149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GealachGirl/pseuds/GealachGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gene met his soulmate unexpectedly and the soulmate words didn't work out the way they were supposed to. He isn't sure what that means for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you to my lovely beta. She put up with a lot of me for this one and she took the time to go through and make comments on the doc I sent her and I can't express how much I appreciate both of those things. Thanks for being my cheerleader, Rachel.

Eugene Roe didn’t think about his soulmate.

It wasn’t a lack of interest, more a lack of time. The only thing he could really devote time to thinking about most nights was the work he had to do with patients he had to save. In between, he was usually sleeping.

Tonight was no different.

From what he could tell from overhearing the police on the scene, a car had been hit directly in an intersection up the road, sending it barreling down this street and into this intersection. It had taken out all of the cars that had been crossing and that led to other cars and more people being hit in a sick domino effect.

Gene wasn’t a paramedic or an EMT, but all of theirs had gone out and there was still need for more. His attending had told doctors and nurses to ride along, bring people back to the hospital and sort them into triage, then they would treat from there.

Doctors were being sent out just to deal with the initial rush of casualties, when it would be the busiest. The idea was that the faster they brought people in, the more people could be saved. Gene agreed.

The scene was chaos. Emergency workers were darting all over the place and calling out for equipment or assistance; firefighters were dealing with burning, smoking cars; and the police were talking to witnesses on the sidewalks and any victims that were well enough, or not being attended to at the moment.

Gene stood from the newly lifeless body he’d been working on—a woman in her thirties, dressed like she’d been on her way home from work—and wiped a tired hand over his face. He waved over a body bag and moved on, searching the wreckage for any more people.

In the flashing light of the emergency vehicles, he picked up on a shine of copper hair from the ground and braced himself for another round of calm, diagnose, treat, find an ambulance. Gene was supposed to have gone back to the hospital on the ambulance he’d ridden in on with whatever patient he’d put inside. But as soon as he’d loaded it, he’d heard someone else calling out for help and he’d gone back out.

The whole point of him being out here was to help as many people as quickly as possible. The casualty numbers were still high, so the rush was still at its peak. They might miss him at the hospital, but he trusted all of the people who worked in the ER.

It would be full of them by now.

He knelt down beside the man and reached out to his bloody, torn shirt to get a better look at his shoulder and neck. Gene was used to these patients being in shock and, as a result, barely noticing that he was there.

But this man’s head turned and when Gene looked up to check in on him, the man’s eyebrows furrowed. He shook Gene’s hands off and tried to pull away, but he stopped abruptly and his eyes started to glaze over as he swayed to the side. Gene reached out to grab him again.

“Hey, you ain’t going anywhere. Stay still,” he ordered firmly.

This time, the man didn’t look back at him. His eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped over into Gene. “Shit,” he hissed, holding the man lightly against his chest. He looked around for help and signaled someone over.

He secured an ambulance and a paramedic helped him strap the man down to a stretcher. Gene was already monitoring vitals and starting up the life support needed to get him to the hospital. From the way his chest was hitching, he probably had a collapsed lung and the shoulder wound had Gene concerned. He was also worried about internal bleeding and anything he couldn’t see or detect outside of the hospital.

The threat of a collapsed lung and the man being on the ground by a car suggested that he’d been close to the epicenter of the accident. Gene figured that he’d either passed out from blood loss or lack of oxygen. Either way, he needed a hospital and tests, and Gene needed to get back.

Gene cut away at the man’s shirt so he could see better—he noted more lacerations and some concerning swelling—and he lost his breath.

The words curved with the man’s hip bone and ran alongside the top of his jeans, and the design matched the one Gene could see if he looked down at his own wrist. He knew that it didn’t necessarily mean anything because there were only so many fonts anyway. But the man’s soulmate words, they were the words Gene had just said to him. “Hey, you ain’t going anywhere. Stay still.”

He’d found his soulmate.

“Doc?” the paramedic across from him asked. He was helping the man—Gene’s soulmate—breathe.

Gene shook his head. Refocused. Now was not the time. The scene was clearing up and they were going to need him back at the hospital. The man on the stretcher needed to be back at the hospital.

He looked at the paramedic and nodded. “Keep pumpin’ for him, I haven’ seen his chest ease up yet and I don’ wanna risk it. Let’s hope he stays out for the ride back.” Gene took a moment to look into his unconscious soulmate’s face before he went back to monitoring his bleeding and dressing his wounds.

Someone from the outside checked in on them before closing the doors. A moment later, they were off to the hospital.

***********

Even though he’d told himself to do it, Gene hadn’t been able to tear his thoughts away from his soulmate. He’d been focused on the patients and he’d performed all of the work he’d needed to, but there was always a little feeling in the back of his head that reminded him that he had a soulmate and that soulmate was one floor up and down the hallway.

The triage hadn’t taken much time and most of the ER staff had already dealt with the more minor injuries. Gene was responsible for the more serious things. He helped remove shrapnel, prep for amputations, and treat the larger, deeper wounds.

He knew that his soulmate had been removed from the ER, mostly because of the collapsed lung and the fact that he was still unconscious. Nothing was being amputated, but his worry about internal bleeding and some of the bruising that had formed had apparently been heeded. Though Gene couldn’t duck away himself, he had a friend who worked up there, and had stayed at the hospital, who kept him updated.

The last he’d heard, the man was stable.

Finally, after several hours, the ER calmed down. Gene and a group of other doctors were sent back upstairs where they belonged, to treat the more serious, but now mostly stable, patients.

Through some stroke of luck, or the same destiny that said they belonged together, Gene was assigned to be his soulmate’s doctor. He probably needed to notify someone about that, but he was more than happy to let it go for now.

As soon as he entered the room, Gene picked up his new patient’s chart. This was all so surreal and it was more than time to put a name to the face.

“Edward Heffron,” he read out slowly. He judged the way the name sounded and decided that he liked it.

Gene settled into the chair beside the bed to read the chart. Heffron’s injuries had been more severe, but still not critical. He’d had his head and shoulder re-dressed and he’d gone in for a CT scan and a chest X-ray.

The CT scan had showed that Heffron didn’t have any internal bleeding but that he had a concussion and minor brain trauma. He was being kept sedated because he was apparently a seizure threat.

The most serious fix was that he had a chest tube, which meant the collapsed lung was worse than Gene had originally thought, but it was being treated.

“This ain’t good,” he said mostly to himself, “but it’s a whole hell of a lot better than it could be. You’re lucky.” Gene looked up at Heffron’s face and stopped thinking about the medical situation for a moment.

His grandmother had always said that your soulmate was one of the most important people in your life and they were one of life’s few absolutes. There was no arguing a soulmate bond in his grandmother’s eyes, so Gene had grown up thinking the same.

He didn’t want to argue, but there was something about this that made him pause. The words were supposed to be the first thing your soulmate said and the first thing you said to them; and he was sure they were supposed to follow right after each other.

He had yet to hear his soulmate say anything at all.

Before he could think about it anymore, his attending stuck his head in the door. “Roe, we need you out here. Is there something wrong with him?”

Gene got to his feet and put the chart back in its place, startled. “No sir, I jus’ wanted to check in on Mr. Heffron here. I didn’t like the way his abdomen was bruisin’ before.”

“Good work, but I want you to go help with the more intensive patients. He’s stable enough for now. He’ll get another CT scan later,” his attending replied.

Gene nodded and went back out into the relative chaos of the rest of the hospital.

**********

In between his other patients and responsibilities, Gene found himself constantly drawn back to the room that had Heffron in it. The first few times he went back, he busied himself looking at the man’s chart and told himself that he was checking in on a patient in unknown condition. But when Gene went back a fifth time, he had to admit that it had nothing to do with anything medical.

The hospital was always crazy and the accident did nothing to help that, so on top of his normal rounds, Gene was also wheeling between rooms and helping with the more intensive patients. He was exhausted and every time he went into Heffron’s room, he felt better; calmer and more energized. The room was like the eye at the center of a hurricane.

By the seventh time, Gene had taken to holding Heffron’s still hand and slipping their fingers together.

He still didn’t know what it meant that he’d said the words, but hadn’t had his own said back. Absentmindedly, he traced over the letters on his wrist and imagined Heffron saying them.

Then a call came over the intercom and he was on his feet again.

**********

“What’s got you so distracted, Gene?” Spina asked him.

There was nothing distracting him. He was monitoring the heartrate of a twenty-two-year-old who had been struck by one of the cars and then buried under it, so Gene couldn’t afford to have anything distracting him. He told Spina as much.

“Give me a break. You can do that in your sleep. There’s something else that you’re thinking about though, I can see it on your face.”

“We all good here? This guy’s steady. We’ll want fluids and medication eventually, but there’s nothin’ mo’ to do for him righ’ now.”

Spina rolled his eyes. “Come on, Gene.”

“Make sure those orders get passed on.” Then he was gone and down the hall. It had been an hour. He wanted to make sure Heffron was still okay and to see if maybe someone had gotten his scans set up.

The room was empty when Gene showed up. He frowned but figured that someone had finally taken Heffron to get his second CT scan. With nothing else to do for the moment, Gene wandered slowly over to the nurse’s station, which functioned as the doctors’ hangout spot, restless.

“Hello Eugene,” Renee said, looking up from a chart she was filing. She’d been running around just as much as he and Spina had been, but somehow she wore the fatigue better.

“Hey Renee, do you know when the patient in that room was taken out?” he asked, tapping his fingers on the desk. Renee looked over his shoulder to where he was gesturing and looked back at him with a sly smile on her face.

“Eugene, you’ve been coming in and out of that room all night. Is there something I should know about?” She was joking, but Gene took advantage of her offer, desperate to get a second opinion and to run his theories by her.

“He’s my soulmate,” he said simply and watched Renee’s reaction. It was subtle, but he could tell that she wasn’t really thrilled by the news. Gene decided to finish his thought before she could say anything. “And he hasn’ said my words back to me. He passed out righ’ after I said his. But I don’ know wha’ tha’ means. Do I have to repeat them or will he say them when he wakes up or is now not even the righ’ time? Were we no’ supposed to meet yet?”

By the time he was done, Renee’s expression had darkened considerably. “I don’t know either, Eugene, you know I didn’t pay attention in any of our soulmate classes,” she snapped.

Renee was one of the rare souls that didn’t have any soulmate words. Scientists and doctors had researched the phenomenon for years, but didn’t have any more answers than they did about why some people never met their soulmates. She tried to hide it, but the topic of soulmates was a sore one for her.

Gene made a sympathetic face. He hadn’t really paid attention in those classes either. He’d always been far more interested in other aspects of biology and medicine and his grandmother had told him throughout his childhood that the soulmate bond was the easiest part of life; that it wasn’t something you needed to understand, just something you felt.

This whole thing was strange, but that didn’t change how Gene felt about it.

“I know. I’m sorry. I jus’ don’ know what to do about it and he’s got brain trauma and I don’ know when he’ll wake up. I can’ stop thinkin’ about it.”

Her expression softened and she put her head to the side. “Eugene, you’re a doctor. You know that anything can happen with brain injuries. You’re just going to have to wait for more scan results to know what that might be. He’ll wake up.”

“And then wha’?”

“Then you see what happens. The two of you are soulmates; it’s going to work out.” She gave him a smile and tapped her papers together before she peeled away from the desk and disappeared into one of the rooms.

His pager went off again and Gene took off down the hallway.

Heffron would be back and he would wake up eventually. In the meantime, Gene had a job to do.

************

By the end of the night, Heffron was declared stable and Gene was finally asleep in the on-call room.

When Gene woke up and went into Heffron’s room in the next day to check in, he was met by a roomful of people. Momentarily surprised, he stopped in the doorway and just took in the scene. There were three men and one woman and more noise than four people should have been able to produce.

The woman noticed him standing in the doorway and her reaction tipped off the man standing next to her. He had a square face and a tight, tough posture and he was one of the loudest people in the room. When he saw Gene in the doorway his eyes lit up and he crowed, “It’s the doctor!”

Everyone else turned to look at him and cheered. Gene wasn’t sure what he was getting into. “Are you Heffron’s family?” he asked warily.

“Babe?” the first guy asked, turning to gesture back at the bed. “Nah, his Ma had to stay in Philly, but we’re all here on her behalf. We’re the ones who keep him out of the hospital back home and look at what happens when he crosses the country all on his own to ‘clear his head’. I’m Bill Guarnere.” He stuck his hand out and Gene stepped forward to shake.

He also met George Luz, Joe Toye, and Guarnere’s wife Frannie.

“Figures Babe gets in a car accident without getting in a car while on vacation,” Luz said, shaking his head at the bed.

“So what’s wrong with him, Doc?” Guarnere asked, crossing his arms and clearly bracing himself for the worst.

“Well, he’s got a collapsed lung, tha’s why he has a chest tube. He had minor bleedin’ from lacerations on his head and torso. There was no internal bleedin’, but he does have a concussion with minor brain trauma.

“Yesterday he was deemed a seizure warnin’, so he’s been medically sedated to prevent that from happenin’. We’ll know when we can stop tha’ after he’s had another CT scan,” Gene replied, watching the four faces and lingering on Heffron’s every now and again.

Toye let out a low whistle and also looked at the bed. “Jesus, when he does finally get to the hospital, he goes the full nine yards.”

“He’s stable now, which is why you were allowed in, but he’s not quite outta the woods yet.”

“How did he get hurt?” Frannie asked before her husband got the chance.

“I don’ know, to be honest. I found ‘im at the scene, propped up beside a car. He passed out on me when I started lookin’ at ‘im. He wasn’ under or in anythin’, so I assume he was jus’ a pedestrian who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Gene knew that he should probably tell them that he was their friend’s soulmate, but he wasn’t sure how to bring it up.

“And you’ve been with him ever since?” Guarnere asked. There was something intense and protective in his voice and Gene could tell that he was more worried than he was letting on.

He nodded.

“He’s gonna wake up, right? And he’s not going to have any permanent damage?” This was from Luz, who was making an effort to look disinterested and was failing.

“It’s hard to tell with brain injuries because anythin’ could happen. But his follow-up scan yesterday showed tha’ he’s already improving,” Gene replied, trying to sound as comforting as he could.

Everyone took that news in stride, nodding and looking back at the bed.

“The fact tha’ he’s stable now is good. An’ as long as he don’ get an infection, I think the chances are good tha’ he’ll wake up an’ make a full recovery,” Gene added. He noted the way their expressions eased and he decided to keep rolling.

“An’, uh, I know that this ain’t really relevant to his medical situation, but I should probly let you know tha’ I’m his soulmate, too.” For the first time, all of the attention in the room was on him and he got four blank stares back.

“No shit?” Toye asked, looking amazed.

“I don’ know if now’s the right time or not, though. See, I said his words when he was tryin’ to pull away from me at the scene, but he passed out ‘fore he could say anythin’. I’m not sure if he heard me or not.”

“So he hasn’t said your words back to you? Little asshole,” Guanere said fondly.

“I don’ know what that means, but as his friends, I thought you should know.”

“Well he’s definitely going to make a full recovery then. He’s gotta say something back. Can’t keep you waiting around forever,” Luz said.

“Yeah, Doc. Don’t worry about it,” Guarnere clapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll make sure you get your words.”

************

Gene left shortly after that to complete his rounds and check back in on the more recent patients. Though the chaos of last night had settled down, hospital business continued as usual; which meant more patients and more work.

Every bit of free time that he had, he still spent in Heffron’s room. Sometimes if he had more than a handful of seconds, he was talked into sitting down. And in these longer moments, Heffron’s friends told him about his soulmate.

“So, you need to know, all of us are from Philly and Babe ain’t leaving any time soon. He came out here because he had some vacation time and he’d gotten a stick up his ass about ‘a change in scenery’,” Guarnere explained during one of Gene’s breaks.

“And for some reason, he insisted on coming out alone because he likes to pretend that he can take care of himself,” Luz added, “and look where that got him.” He gestured to the hospital bed.

“So we don’t know how your cross-country romance is gonna work, ‘cause there ain’t no way Babe’s moving out here.”

“Actually, tha’s not a problem. I came out here with my friends to get more trainin’ as part of our hospital’s program to rotate doctors for varied experiences. Our hospital’s in Philly,” Gene explained.

Everyone made an approving noise. “Where you from originally, Doc? You’ve got quite an accent,” Guarnere asked.

They were loud and more outgoing than Gene could ever hope to keep up with. He was still a little taken aback by them and he was glad that his visits were generally pretty brief, but Gene really liked Heffron’s friends.

They cared about the unconscious man like older siblings and though they made fun of him mercilessly, Frannie always balanced them out and had them admitting that Heffron had good traits, too. He still hadn’t met his soulmate, but if his friends were anything to go by, Gene already liked him a lot.

Heffron had another CT scan later in the day to check in again on the concussion and when Gene entered the room, he looked at the updated chart immediately.

“Good news,” he declared, smiling a little to himself. “He’s not a seizure risk anymore. We’re gonna take him off the sedative.”

“And he’ll wake up?” Frannie asked.

“Once his brain is rested enough, Heffron’ll be able to wake up on his own.”

“You know, he’s gonna hate it if you call him Heffron,” Toye told him. “Do ya know his name?”

“Edward, righ’?”

Luz laughed. “God, he’ll hate that even more. Call him Babe. Everyone calls him that.”

Gene hummed in response and called Renee in to help him unhook the sedative and monitor Heffron’s—Babe’s—vitals while they did.

“All of his vital signs are normal, which means he’s in good condition. We can probably expect him to wake up sometime soon,” Renee said before Gene could say anything first. “Eugene, do you want to introduce me?” she asked lightly, though her tone suggested that she didn’t expect anything less.

He gave her a look that told her he knew what she was doing, but that he didn’t mind. “This is my friend and fellow doctor, Renee. Renee, these are,” he stumbled a little over the new name, “—Babe’s friends: Luz, Toye, Guarnere, and Frannie.”

Luz got up and stretched his hand out. He had a lazy smile on his face and made a big show of introducing himself. “I’m Luz. Excuse me if I’m mistaken, but I heard that we’ll be seeing Doc and his friends in Philly sometime. I must say that I’m looking forward to that.”

Renee looked bemused by the obvious flirting, but she was spared from having to respond when Toye pulled Luz back into his chair by the back of his shirt. “He’s spoken for already,” he said darkly. Luz gave him a shit-eating grin and Toye just rolled his eyes back and pulled Luz subtly closer.

“Ignore those idiots,” Frannie said dismissively. “It’s nice to meet you. This is probably the best thing that could come out of this situation.”

Renee’s expression warmed. “He’s been in good hands, here. Eugene hasn’t missed a chance to check in on him.” The attention shifted to him again and Gene very much didn’t want to be in the room anymore. His prayers were answered when the moment was interrupted by their pagers going off.

************

It was late when Babe woke up.

Luz, Toye, and Frannie had gone out to get food and Gene was finally off and ready to get some decent sleep before his next shift. For the rest of the day, he’d only had seconds to swing by and check in and to get a breath of that calm that existed when he was near Babe.

Guarnere was the only one in the room and the soft light that was switched on by the bed was the only contrast to the darkness outside the window. When Gene stepped in, Guarenere lifted his head. “Hey, Doc. You off or just on break?”

“I’m off now. How’s he doin’?” Gene came further into the room and glanced at the monitors. Now that he was off the sedative, there hadn’t been anymore scans and Babe’s improved condition was already obvious.

“You’d know better than me.” He watched and didn’t move as Gene went around the bed to check the IV lines and to examine the chest tube and the way Babe’s chest rose and fell more easily.

“This tube’ll probably be ready to come out soon,” he mused. He lowered himself into the chair that he’d been using this whole time and took a moment to stop and look at his soulmate and at the shadow of facial hair that ghosted across his jaw, slightly darker than his hair. Already Babe’s complexion looked better and Gene had a good feeling about his recovery. He told Guarnere.

“Thank Christ,” he sighed.

“Honestly, I love this kid and when I got a call from a hospital in California, I didn’ even know what to think. Frannie had to come take the phone from me and get all the information. Our other friends wanted to come out, too, but they couldn’ get the time off,” he stopped and looked Gene up and down, like he was sizing him up again. “Despite all that I can’ say I’m sorry it happened. An’ if everythin’s gonna be fine, this’ll have been worth it in the end.”

Gene was flattered. Even from only knowing him for a day, he knew that Guarnere’s gruff exterior was hard to crack.

He nodded, accepting the approval quietly, and turned his eyes back to Babe. He was stirring now and his eyelids twitched. Guarnere and Gene watched in utter silence as Babe’s eyes blinked open slowly.

Gene felt a flutter of nerves, still not knowing how the words were going to resolve themselves, but they eased as soon as he made eye contact with his soulmate. If he needed to, he would repeat them. Anything to keep those eyes on him.

A dazed, sluggish smile stretched across Babe’s face as he finally focused on Gene, who was still standing over him. “Mmm,” he hummed softly, in the scratchy, muted voice of those who were waking up from drugs, “pretty.”

Gene started at finally hearing his words, but he felt a smile open up on his face. All of the waiting felt worth it now. It made Babe smile even wider. He frowned a little a second later, looking like he had a question. Already he was becoming more aware and responsive. It was a good sign.

“About damn time,” Guarnere said from Babe’s other side when their moment had lasted a few seconds. Babe turned to look at him immediately, breaking his eye contact with Gene.

He tried to sit up, ready to defend himself, but Gene moved in to put his hands on the man’s shoulders, softly pushing him back down. “Hey, you ain’t going anywhere. Stay still.”

Babe snapped back around to look at Gene, eyes comically wide. He looked so stunned and went so still that Gene was mildly worried that he’d had a seizure. But then he grinned wildly and looked back at Guarnere and at something behind Gene.

“Did you hear that, Bill?” he asked excitedly. His voice was still rough and quiet, but he seemed determined to talk anyway. “Did you hear that? He said my words! Wait, so I must have said yours.” He was looking up at Gene again and Gene just held up his wrist as proof.

“Guys, I found him! I found my soulmate!”

“Would you calm the fuck down? We know,” Toye said, coming forward and sinking into one of the folding chairs.

“What the hell d’ya mean you know?” Babe demanded.

“Well Babe, your poor soulmate here said your words when he met you at the accident,” Luz explained, leaning against the back of Toye’s chair. “But then you passed out and he saw them on you. Then he told us about it, so we know.

“And not only has he been waiting for you to wake up and say his words back to him, but he’s also happened to say your words twice because they’ve been necessary twice,” Luz finished with a mocking grin on his face.

“Sounds like Babe though, don’t it? Doc, you’re probably goin’ to be tellin’ this one to sit still and calm down for the rest of your life,” Guarnere said.

“Wait, what? You’ve been waiting all this time?” Babe was looking at Gene now and Gene smiled a little.

“Well, I do work here.” He noticed that the weak joke didn’t help ease the distress in Babe’s eyes. “Hey, it hasn’ been any trouble. What else would I have done?”

Quietly, Frannie ushered the others into standing and leaving the room. Gene tried to tell her she didn’t have to, but the look on her face kept him from saying anything. Guarnere shot him a thumbs-up as he left and Luz winked.

Gene sat down in his chair beside Babe’s bed and eventually reached out to slip their fingers together again. “It’s okay, Babe. It ain’t your fault you got a concussion. I would’a waited anyway.”

Babe was looking down at their hands, turning them a little bit when he finally responded. “How’d ya know to call me Babe? It’s got my first name right here,” he pointed at his wristband.

“Your friends told me you wouldn’ like me callin’ you Edward or Heffron. As soon as they found out I was your soulmate, they set me straight.”

Babe smiled a little. “At least they’re good for something. What’s your name?” He was looking at Gene again.

“I’m Eugene Roe. You can call me Gene.”

*************

Babe stayed in the hospital until he was cleared from having brain damage and his concussion had healed enough. That decision came a day after Gene decided the chest tube should come out. Gene went with Babe for the first X-ray and explained what was going to happen.

“Is it gonna hurt?” Babe asked uneasily when they were back in his room.

“Nah, you’re gettin’ a painkiller before and the tube’ll be out in seconds. After that, you’re gonna feel a lot better. Remember how I told you to hold your breath?”

“Yeah, like this,” he demonstrated what Gene had shown him to do and Gene nodded.

“When I give you the signal, you’re gonna do that for me,” he said, putting the painkiller into the IV.

“Christ you’re bossy,” Babe commented in good humor.

“And you’re my patient with a hole in his chest. Do what I tol’ you to.”

Babe rolled his eyes and said, “Yes sir.”

Gene removed the dressing and cut the sutures that held the tube in place. The whole time, he could see Babe’s words on his hip and he suppressed the urge to smile. “Okay,” he said slowly when the painkiller had taken effect. He clamped the end of the tube and told Babe, “Now.”

As soon as Babe had inhaled as much as he could, Gene pulled the tube out. Babe flinched a little, but he didn’t exhale until Gene told him to; after he’d redressed the area. He looked at it all: the tube, the new dressing, and the words on Babe’s hip, in satisfaction.

“Alrigh’ then, it’s lookin good. Let’s go get another X-ray.” He patted Babe’s knee.

Babe sighed shakily but smiled at him. “After that, will you finally kiss me?”

Gene smiled back. “Once we know you don’t have any brain damage, maybe.”

**************

A few months later, Gene stepped off his airplane with Renee and Spina, finally back in Philly after a year in San Francisco. He didn’t love flying and after all of the layovers and delays he felt as tired as he did after being on call for 12 hours. They walked out of the gate and past security and Gene suddenly had his arms full of his soulmate and a wave of calm rolling through him.

He pulled in a breath, but before he could say anything, Babe was occupying his mouth with better things than words. When Babe curled his hand around the back of Gene’s neck and scratched his fingers through his hair, Gene didn’t want it to end.

“Jesus Christ, we’re in public, Babe,” Guarnere pointed out.

“And you two live together now,” Spina complained.

“Gene’s a busy doctor and you and Frannie ain’t any better,” Babe retorted, finally pulling his face away and glaring at all of their friends. Now Gene had the opportunity to look around at everyone who’d showed up and to take in the large sign welcoming him and his friends back.

“I go back to the hospital next Monday,” he said absently, nodding at Luz and Toye over Babe’s shoulder.

Babe moved away then, only far enough so he was an arm’s length away, and demanded eye contact. “I left California the day after I was let out of the hospital and you were on call that night. We have a lot of time to make up for but I think if we get going now we’ll get a good start on it.” Gene’s mouth quirked up at the corner.

“So I take it we’re not going out for dinner, then?” Renee asked lightly. Babe looked at her and moved his hand down to grab Gene’s.

“Gene and I won’t be coming at least,” Babe replied with a grin, squeezing Gene’s hand.

Gene smiled to himself and squeezed back.

They waved goodbye to their friends and Babe gave directions to his car. Back at the apartment, Babe ordered pizza and he helped Gene unpack and move in. Halfway through, he got impatient and he argued that Gene should have “a tour of the bedroom.” Laughing, Gene agreed and followed Babe to the back of the apartment.

They worked well together. Even though they’d been apart for months after meeting, Gene had called Babe every day. Babe had always been able to make him feel better and less rundown after a long night. He pulled Gene out of his head and made him feel more energized. And Gene provided an ear for Babe to rant to and a shoulder to lean on when he had long days, providing a calming effect that Babe’s friends thanked him for constantly.

In the end it was just as easy as his grandmother had always promised, and Gene didn’t need to find time to think about his soulmate.


End file.
